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A 46-year-old former Barrie, Ont., ER doctor has been sentenced to two years in connection with the forging of prescriptions and trafficking of fentanyl.

Darryl Gebien was first arrested in November 2014 and charged with three counts of uttering a forged document, after a pharmacist alerted police to unusual prescriptions.

In January 2015, he was arrested for a second time and charged with 65 additional offences. In total, Barrie police alleged close to 500 fraudulent prescriptions for fentanyl patches were issued by Gebien.

He learned 33 to 44 of those patches illegally made it onto the streets of Barrie, which is part of the reason why prosecutors were seeking a sentence of eight years behind bars.

Mitch Eisen, Gebien’s lawyer, told Global News Wednesday he was “very pleased” with the sentence, given the Crown’s call for a lengthier sentence.

“It was a very thoughtful and considerate judgment,” he said, adding Gebien had pleaded guilty to the charges. “The judge was obviously very impressed with the efforts of rehabilitation that Darryl had made.”

Eisen said Gebien has also hosted speaking engagements and made himself available to medical groups and individuals struggling with addiction seeking advice in the time since he was charged.

VIDEO: Ontario doctor forged fentanyl prescriptions to feed addiction

“I think the judge was very impressed with that and he was balancing that with the seriousness of the charges,” Eisen said.

“I think [Gebien] handled it pretty well. He was hopeful that he would avoid being sent to jail but he was realistic that that was fairly unlikely.”

Eisen said Gebien knew there was a “risk of a considerably higher sentence” and was relieved that his jail term wasn’t longer.

“There must have been 20 or 25 people in the courtroom there supporting him,” he said.

“At one point he broke down crying when the judge was going through both some of the evidence and the things he’d done and some of the efforts he’d made at rehabilitation.”